Google's &num=100 Change Breaks SEO Tools

A new change by Google is shaking up the SEO world.

It's not an algorithm update, but a quiet, technical tweak that has sent rank trackers scrambling and is forcing us to rethink how we measure website performance.

Google has disabled or is testing the removal of the &num=100 URL parameter.

For years, this simple parameter was the secret weapon for SEOs and rank-tracking tools, allowing them to pull 100 search results onto a single page instead of the default 10.

Now, that shortcut is gone. And the ripple effects are significant.

What’s Happening and Why It's a Big Deal

Since around September 10, 2025, many SEO professionals have noticed a sharp decline in desktop impressions in Google Search Console, even if their traffic hasn’t dropped.

This is a direct consequence of the &num=100 parameter being disabled.

Here's the theory:

• Old Way: Rank-tracking tools and bots would use &num=100 to efficiently pull data for the top 100 rankings in a single request.

• Problem: Every result on that 100-result page would register an "impression" in Google Search Console (GSC). This inflated desktop impression data, especially for sites ranking on page three or four.

• New Reality: Now, with the parameter gone, tools have to make 10 separate requests (for 10 results each) to get the same data. The bot activity that was previously inflating GSC impressions has vanished.

The result is a "cleaner" GSC, but one that looks alarming at first glance.

Your average position might have "improved" because those low-ranking, bot-driven impressions are no longer being counted.

Your actual human traffic, however, remains unchanged.

The Impact on the SEO Community

This change has created a significant stir for a few reasons:

1. Broken Tools and Rising Costs: Rank-tracking services that relied on the &num=100 parameter are now making 10x the number of requests to get the same data. This could lead to higher costs for SEO tools, which might be passed on to customers. Some tool providers have already confirmed issues and are working on workarounds, with some considering limiting their tracking to the top 20 or 50 results.

2. Rethinking "The Great Decoupling": For the past year, many SEOs have observed a pattern of rising impressions without a corresponding increase in clicks, a trend some attributed to AI Overviews. This recent change offers an alternative explanation: a significant portion of those impressions may have simply been bot traffic.

3. No Communication from Google: As of now, Google has not made a public statement about this change, leaving the SEO community to interpret its meaning and scramble for solutions.

What This Means for Your SEO Strategy

As an SEO professional, here’s what you need to do:

• Don't Panic: A sudden drop in desktop impressions in GSC is likely a reporting change, not a sign that your site is being penalized. Your actual human traffic is the metric that matters most.

• Establish a New Baseline: Use the week-over-week changes since September 10, 2025, as a new benchmark for your desktop impression data in GSC.

• Check Your Rank-Tracking Provider: See what your rank-tracking tool is doing to adapt. Some have already implemented fixes, while others may have data gaps.

• Focus on Top Rankings: With the cost of tracking deep rankings potentially rising, it reinforces the importance of focusing on improving rankings for the top 20 positions, where most of the human traffic is.

This shift highlights the industry's dependency on Google's systems.

While tool vendors are quickly adapting, the community is re-evaluating what the data truly means and whether the "great decoupling" was a story of user behavior or simply a flaw in our measurement methodology.